sweetgreen Raises $200 Million At A ‘Unicorn’ Valuation To Invest In Its Technology Platform

By Annie Baker ● November 13, 2018

sweetgreen Raises $200 Million At A ‘Unicorn’ Valuation To Invest In Its Technology Platform

sweetgreen is a fast-casual salad chain that considers itself as a food technology company. Fidelity Investors was the lead investor in this round and JPMorgan was the placement agent. With this round of funding, sweetgreen is now valued at more than $1 billion (known as unicorn status).

To date, sweetgreen has raised about $365 million since launching. With this round of funding, sweetgreen plans to launch a new food platform with expanded menu categories and new retail formats.

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“As a company we are focused on democratizing real food,” said sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman. “Our vision is to evolve from a restaurant company to a food platform that builds healthier communities around the world.”

With this funding, sweetgreen will continue investing in its supply chain, social impact, and new technologies. For example, sweetgreen is going to continue investing in its digital platform — which is used by more than 1 million people and handles about 50% of customer orders. And sweetgreen will also invest in a blockchain initiative as a way to create better-tasting produce and insights around each ingredient from the seeds to the restaurant. Plus the company is going to expand its footprint in existing and new markets.

Another initiative that sweetgreen is focused on is social impact, which is a mission to build “healthier communities by connecting people to real food.” For example, the “sweetgreen in schools program” pushes for healthier food and food education in school cafeterias.

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sweetgreen was founded in 2007 and currently has 90 restaurants across the country. And over 4,000 sweetgreen team members prepare food from scratch every day using fresh ingredients and produce that is delivered every morning.

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